Railway car and locomotive headlight.



No. 816,139. PATENTED MAR. 27, 1906. A. WALTER.

RAILWAY OAR ANDLOGOMOTIVE HEADLIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED DEG.1H, 1901.

MM Q' I UNITED STA i ADOLPH WALTER,

or TOLEDO, OHIO.

RAILWAY CAR AND LOCOMOTIVE HEADLIGHT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 27. 1906.

Application filed December 18, 1901. Serial No. 86,460

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLPH WALTER, acitizen of the United States,residing at Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Improve ment in Railway Car and LocomotiveHeadlights for the Purpose of Preventing Collisions and other Accidents,of which invention the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to cause the headlight of a car orlocomotive to automatically indicate the state of rest or motion of suchcar or locomotive, and this I accomplish byv looking or connecting achangeable or signaling head light or lights with the motion of thethrottle or other power-controlling device of a vehicle, so that themotion of such throttle or other power-controlling device eifects thesignal shown by such car or locomotive, and by having the headlight of acar or locomotive thus automatically indicate the state of rest ormotion of such car or locomotive all accidents at night arising frommistaking aheadli 'ht aheadfor being that of a car in motion, w ereassuch car is at rest, or from mistaking a headlight ahead for being thatof a locomotive or car at rest, whereas such locomotive or car isrunning, would be prevented.

The new and valuable feature of my invention is the connecting or lockinof the throttle or other power-controlling evice of a vehicle with achangeable or signaling headlight, and it is this combination of 'achangeable or signaling headlight, a means for actuating or changing thesame, and the connecting or locking of such means for producing theheadli ht changes with the motion of the throttle orotherpower-controlling device that I claim as my invention and am desirous ofsecuring by Letters Patent.

I submit herewith drawings showing a.

plan whereby my invention can be carried out on locomotives; but I donot mean that my invention is limited to the exact forms and plan shown.

In the drawings similar letters refer to similar parts in the twofigures.

Figure 1 represents the top view of a throttle in-its connection to theboiler, with an electrical switch attached, also showing aplan of wiringwhereby the osition of the throttle, and consequently tlIe state of restor motion of the locomotive would always beshown by the head light orlights. Fig. 2 shows a slightly-difi erent method of wiring from thatshown in Fig.1.

In Fig. 1, B is the end of the boiler; G, the generator or source ofelectricity; H, the headlight, (H is not taken to be in its properposition and is merely shown to indicate the connection;) P, thepacking-holder for the throttle-stem R. S is the electrical switch. U isa metallicbase secured to the boiler-head, and W is a non-conductingswitchboard upon which the switch S is mounted and to which sector K inposition, is secured. When the throttle T is open, as indicated, itholds the conductin -knife '11 of the knife-switch S tobar 0. This knifeis then in contact with the grooved or inner surfaces of theconducting-sector K. As long as the throttle remains entirely orpartiall open the knife 2 will be in contact with t e conducting-sectorK at some point of the arc, and a circuit supplying the running light-or signal X will be maintained, the circuit consisting of the wire a,leading from the source G, the knife '5, the sector K, and the wire h onthe one side and on the other the wireh and the Wire 0, leading back tothe source G. Thus as the knife of the switch moves along the sector Kin consequence of the variations in the position of the throttle thecircuit which conducts the electricity to the lower light X would remainunbroken and the running-headlight or in-motion slgnal be displayed. Ifthen the throttle would be com letely closed, the rod 0 would force thecon ucting-knife ito the right until it came in contact with m.- Thecurrent from the supply-wires would then pass throu h the circuit madewith the wires e an e, causing the upper headlight or signal Z to belightedf The at-rest" signal would then be dis layed.

dispensed with, as shown in Fi 2. The su ply-Wires +0 and -c woul thenrun rectly to the lower or in-motion signal, so that whenever the supplyof electricity would be on the in-motion light would remain burning.Then whenever the knife i would be brought in contact with 'm a branchcircuit along +e and e would be closed with the upper light or signal Z.The state of rest in the locomotive would then be indicated by theburning of the signal-light Z ward the eft by means of the connectingthe support V, which holds the conducting- If t ought desirable, thesector K could be above the regular headlight X, which would also belighted. This upper or signal-light could be made with any color of lensor combination of lights or placed in any position suitable for thedisplaying of a slgnal, since am not aware that a changeable headlightor signal thereof has ever been automatically operated or actuated bythe throttle motion.

I have already mentioned that my invention would be of value on carshaving a means of self-pro 'ulsion, as well as on locomotives,

- and there ore wherever the word throttle appears in the specificationand claims I re- .fer thereby to the controller-lever of an electric caras Well as to the throttle of a 1060- motive.

Hence, as my invention, I claim 1. The combination, in anautomaticallysignaling headlight for locomotives and cars,

of a suitable electric headlight; a circuit connecting said headlightwith a source of electricity; anda switch in said circuit locked to, andoperated by, the throttle-lever.

. 2. The combination, in an automaticallysignalin electric headlight,of. a plurality of electric lights, constituting an in-motion and anat-rest signal; a circuit over which when closed. electricity flows tosaid inmotion signal, from a suitable source; a circuit over which whenclosed electricity flows to said at-rest signalfrom said source adouble-throw switch located in the leads from said source, wherebyeither said in-motion or said at-rest signal is closed with said source;and a means connecting said doublethrow switch with the motion of thethrottle.

3. The combination,'in an automaticallysignaling electric headlight, oftwo electric lights, one constituting an in-motion and the other anat-rest signal; circuits connecting said electric lights with a sourceof electricity; a double-throw switch locked to, and operated by,the'power-controlling device, arranged in said.circuits and closingeitherthe one or the other with said source, according to the positionof said power-controlling device; a long conducting-surface placed inthe circuit leading to the in-motion signal and so arranged that saidswitch will be in movable contact therewith as long as saidpower-controlling device remains open; and a contact-piece placed in thecircuit leading to, the at-rest signal and adapted to have contact withsaid switch only when said power-controlling device is closed.

4. The combination, in an automaticallysignaling electric light forlocomotives and cars, of a suitable electric light-signal; a circuitconnecting-said light-signal with a suit able source of electricity; anda switch in said circuit locked to, and operated by, the

throttle-lever.

ADOLPH WALTER. Witnesses:

URBAN A. WALTER, CHARLIE CHERRY.

